Blood-stained mattresses and other furniture removed from Idaho house where four students were murdered
Police work has been winding down at crime scene
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Investigators were seen on Friday removing mattresses with apparent blood stains from the home where four University of Idaho students were brutally murdered in November.
The removal involved a bed frame and at least two mattresses, on which dark stains were visible through plastic wrap, the New York Post reports.
Forensic work has been winding down for weeks at the home where Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin were killed.
In late November, police announced they were nearing the end of evidence collection at the rental home.
A month later, once suspect Bryan Kohberger was in captivity, a crime scene clean-up crew began santising the house. Police have said the home will remain an active crime scene until the beginning of February.
The three-story house where Goncalves, Mogen, and Kernodle lived has yielded a wealth of evidence to police.
According to court documents released on Friday, officers found Mr Kohberger’s DNA on a knife sheath left behind at the crime scene.
They later matched this DNA profile to one pulled off his parent’s trash in Pennsylvania, where the 28-year-old was spending the holidays after allegedly committing the murders in Idaho and driving across the country.
Two of the surviving roommates described to police having encounters with an apparent intruder inside the house.
One roommate, identified in police documents by the initials DM, said that she heard someone believed to be either Goncalves or Kernodle saying “there’s someone here”.
Minutes later, DM. said she heard what she thought was crying coming from Kernodle’s room, the documents state.
At that point, she said she heard a man’s voice saying, “It’s ok, I’m going to help you”.
When she opened her door for a third time minutes later, she said she saw “a figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her”.
DM said the encounter with the stranger sent her into a “frozen shock phase,” and she locked herself in her room.
Mr Kohberger has been charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder as well as burglary.
The 28-year-old appeared in Idaho court on Friday for the first time, where he was informed of his charges and told he would be held without bond.